Memories: The lost lives of Lily and James
by Blue Eyes At Night
Summary: For Harry, who has never known his parents, a bunch of memories of them are stored in a Penseive and give to him so he could see the parents he never knew.
1. Prologue Summer Present time

Prologue:  
  
Harry sat in the dark corner of number 4 Privet Drive with his head in his hands. He sighed loudly as he looked into the only look he had into his parents' life together, the photo album that Hagrid had given him after first year. As he flipped through the pages of the book, he had to wonder what went on behind one those happy, smiling faces. Were they always smiling so widely? Were they witty? Did Dad still ruffle his hair? Did Mum use magic to help her cook like Mrs. Weasley or would she do it by hand like a Muggle? Was Mum anything like her sister? What was Dad's favorite dessert? Mum's favorite tea? Did they argue much?  
  
Ever since he had seen Snape's memory of his parents, he began to wonder just how James had won Lily over. What did he say to her? Did he give her any gifts? Take her places?  
  
'Wish Da was here to help me with Cho.' Harry thought dismally.  
  
He loving ran his fingers over the top of the pictures and his mother and father waved at him excitedly; even Sirius in the background smiled joyfully and gave Harry an enthusiastic wave. Sirius, the memory of his godfather still hurt so much. Remus he never saw and Wormtail he was prepared to kill for the betrayal that he had committed. Harry realized sadly that Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs were permanently split and that he, Harry, would never know them. Their dreams would die with Peter and Lupin, the dreams of a second generation of Marauders coming into Hogwarts from each of the original members. A little Moony, after all, one couldn't leave the Shrieking Shack unused for too long, who would hold up the rumors of it being haunted? A wee Wormtail, every gang needs that one member who just worships the other members, right? Another Padfoot, someone as smug and daring as Sirius with his wit and charm to be mates with James' boy. Harry. Who was all alone now.  
  
Not for the first time he wondered what life would've been like if James or Lily had defeated Voldemort. Or if neither of them had died. If Sirius had never been sent to Azkaban, would he have married? Had kids? If so, would Harry have been mates with them? Probably. And Lupin! What if Lupin and James and Sirius had never parted ways, would Lupin have (despite his condition with lycanthropy) had a family as well? Or would he have just been Uncle Remus? And what about treacherous Peter Pettigrew? Uncle Wormtail? Harry shuddered at the thought of it.  
  
He vowed that one day he would be the one to kill Wormtail, to put Peter Pettigrew in his grave, for Lily, James and Sirius.  
  
Sitting in the dark corner of his small room, Harry had never felt more alone. Then he decided to end his loneliness, he got up and walked over to his desk. He needed to talk to someone, he was having nightmares recently. They were all about Lily and James fighting in their fifth year at Hogwarts, he was having nightmares that his parents really hated each other. He knew it wasn't true, the smiling pictures in his book were proof of that but he wanted to know more about their story, needed to know more about their story.  
  
Dear Moony,  
  
I was just wondering about my parents. I can't get that image of Mum fuming at Dad out of my head, "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid." The way she talked about him, his arrogance, it was really like she hated him.  
  
It's so lonely here, I mean with Voldemort back it's hard to see Ron and Hermione and.. I guess this is one of those times that I really wish I had a father to talk to. Or a mother. Or both.  
  
I miss them but I don't know how that's possible. I mean I never knew them. And now Sirius. I'm still looking out my window all the time looking for Padfoot to come around.  
  
I just.. I wish I could see everyone in a time when none of this had happened. No more screaming and killing and death, I want to know them when they were happy. The picture album I have, well, its not helping like it used to.  
  
I know you're busy but ... I didn't know who else to write. You're the last of the Marauders, Moony, I figured it would be alright to talk to you about them.  
  
Love, Harry  
  
Looking over this note, it seemed reasonable. He just hoped it wasn't too much of a bother. Moony was doing about as well as Harry, he knew, with Sirius dying and the Order of the Phoenix becoming constantly more demanding, and with the whole werewolf thing life wasn't easy as it was without a 16-year-old boy's depression and curiosity. But he had to ask. He had to.  
  
Hedwig came back with a dead mouse in her beak and Harry let her finish eating before sending her off, telling her of course to be very careful and fast and to get a good response. The snowy owl beat her wings and flew into the silent night without interrupting the quiet. Harry sighed and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about everything and nothing.  
  
'I wonder what Cho's doing? Does she hate me? I wonder if she'll go to Hogsmeade with me next year, I mean I'll be good if she's not going to bring up Diggory or anything. What about Ron? Hermione? I wonder what Dumbledore's up to. I wonder what the Hogwart's teachers do in the summer...' Eventually he trailed off to sleep without his inquiries being answered.  
  
In London at that time, Remus Lupin was lounging in a chair looking dismally at the moon, two days until it was full. He was pale and ill- looking, Dumbledore and McGonagall were upstairs talking or arguing or whatever. Most of the night had consisted of eating as they discussed what Voldemort could be up to, what was he planning and was Harry safe; who was on duty protecting him? Mundungus had been taken off the list because he had nearly gotten Harry expelled and killed. Remus thought that tonight it might just be one of the Weasleys, most of whom were either asleep upstairs or in various parts of the world doing assignments for the Order.  
  
Just as Remus was about to nod off a tapping came to the window followed by a quiet hooting. With some interest as to who and why post was being delivered to at this hour but upon open opening the window and letting in the snowy owl he knew that Harry had a need of some kind from someone.  
  
"Well, old girl, give it here." Remus said gently to the owl and she extended her leg so that Lupin could untie the letter from her leg.  
  
He read it and gave a sad smile, 'Poor Harry.' He thought.  
  
He let the letter fall to the desk near him and he looked into the fire, half expecting one of his friends to pop through it at any time. With a sigh Remus murmured, "You shouldn't have to go through all you have, Harry. You should have what other children have: a mum and dad as crazy about you as they were about each other, a nice house and maybe a little brother or sister. You deserve to have a normal life...or at least a glimpse of it."  
  
He remembered something Sirius had said about Harry just days before he died, he confided in his old mate, "Harry should get to see more memories of Lily and James, he should get to know them as well as he can, given the circumstances. The boy needs a mother and father, I can't be that for him, I'm not James."  
  
Lupin sighed again, 'You were the closest thing to a father he ever had, Sirius, and now your gone too.'  
  
Then Remus leapt to his feet, "But he can see them again. Oh Sirius! Why didn't we see it before?"  
  
With that he dashed upstairs as fast as he could, he would give Harry the one thing he thought he would never have: his parents.  
  
A/N- Hi to all who read. Hope you liked it, it sounds corny but give me time, I'm just warming up. This is my frist HP fic. Which brings me to issue one: I have 2 LOTR fics in the works and they do take precedence over this fic for now because that series is nearly done and HP still has a long life ahead of it. UPDATES will be SLOW, I warned you. But please, do read and at least toss me the occasional review, its good for corrections and thoughts and stuff. Hope you like it so far!! 


	2. An unexpected Christmas Gift present tim...

Disclaimer: I'm not stupid and I like to think that my readers aren't. If you are in a section of fanfiction, I assume that you know what is part of the original series and can easily identify what is and is not mine.  
  
But in case you come from the shallow end of the intellectual pool, Harry Potter and all recognizable parties from the Harry Potter series, are NOT mine. If they were, I too would be richer then the Queen of England (congrats to you JK). HOWEVER::: What's mine is mine, try and take it and I shall hunt you down.  
  
Chapter 1- An unexpected Christmas Gift  
  
Harry's six year at Hogwarts was nothing short of a nightmare, the Slytherin's were nothing short of murderous and he had to duel a few of them for his personal safety numerous times. The Order still sent him their little notes about who was alive, who was dead, who was in Azkaban and such. It was all overly depressing. On top of that, Cho and that Roger Davies bugger were an item and she would sooner hex him then talk to him. Roger was not better, Davies had threatened to put Harry's broom in an awkward place if Harry didn't stop dreaming about his girlfriend.  
  
Of course there was the total lack of Sirius, nothing except a broken mirror was left of his godfather and Harry couldn't stand that every time someone became a father to him, they were killed. Which was why he began keeping Mrs. And Mr. Weasley at a distance, they had children and death enough to worry about without him. He and Ron were growing closer, and Hermione as well, the three of them had found a little bond of friendship that was as strong as the Marauders was rumored to have been. Neville Longbottom was beginning to hang around them a lot as well, he and Harry really began to identify with each other and they became support for each other.  
  
Remus had been wonderful to Harry, writing to him all the time and keeping a good watch on him but Harry was still suffering from Sirius' loss and unintentionally pushed Moony away.  
  
Christmas was tomorrow and Harry was going to go to Grimmauld place, he wouldn't be able to bear one more first year ambushing him in the Common Room wide eyed in awe, "Harry Potter! You saw.him."  
  
He was looking forward to a Weasley Christmas, to presents and to cakes, but the food would not have the flavor it did when Sirius was alive. And Harry was likely to kill Kreacher if he saw him, he hated the house elf so vehemently that he could easily kill him and be happy about it..but then he'd be no better then Voldemort and he wouldn't be able to bear that. Harry shook his head, it did no good to dwell on the treacherous elf... Nonetheless he might very well go through with his threat to lock Kreacher up with a certain hungry werewolf.  
  
The train was too strenuous for Harry so he was going to travel via Portkey, something Dumbledore had promised as a partial Christmas gift. That had made Harry smile, that's something else that had been different, Dumbledore had been keeping a keener eye on Harry and giving Harry Occlumency lessons, something Harry was considerably better at. Once in a while Harry would get through to Dumbledore's painful memories, and Harry recalled one of the most painful being a Mrs. Dumbledore dying some 50 or 60 years earlier before she had ever become Mrs. Dumbledore. Upon getting the Headmaster to actually talk about this, he revealed that Lucinda had been killed by an unknown Dark wizard, or at least at the time unknown. Voldemort had taken to taunting Dumbledore with the crime but it didn't make Dumbledore break, it made him stronger, made him want to beat Voldemort more, made him want Harry safer and smarter as quickly as possible.  
  
It was very inspirational to see Dumbledore not be brought down by even that horrible memory.  
  
But that's beside the point, as Harry arrived at Grimmauld Drive he received the oddest welcome; everyone seemed to be looking at him and talking to him as though they knew something that he didn't but the school year had drained him of inquisitiveness so he let it slide. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep that night was Molly Weasley kissing his forehead, "Sweet dreams, Harry, everything will be much better tomorrow."  
  
At the time he couldn't comprehend why she said that, but it was the first of a long line of things going right for Harry Potter.  
  
When he woke up on Christmas morning there was a pile of presents, of course Ron's was a little higher but that was expected as he had a bigger family, and Harry had some from a very people at school who had given them to Dumbledore and he had forwarded them, just from random kids he didn't know "Happy Christmas to the Great Harry Potter".  
  
He got some really nifty joke stuff from Fred and George who were still feeling generous from there booming business. Ron and Hermione had combined their funds to get him a Snitch that came with a long leash so that it wouldn't completely escape him, but he doubted he would need it and he was suddenly trampled by a memory of James playing with a Snitch and never loosing it.  
  
'Dad.' The thought pained Harry's heart; he wished he had a father here right now with him, he wondered if James would still be able to snatch the Snitch even from his talented son.  
  
He got the usual Weasley sweater with a dozen mince pies, the Dursley's sent him a dead mouse which he gave to Hedwig (he supposed that they were still bitter about the fact that Draco Malfoy had been in Surrey and had hexed mice to nibble at Dudley like he was cheese and to follow him everywhere). Dobby had gotten him a very ugly acid green hat "to bring out Harry Potter's eyes, sir". There was a particularly large box with stripped paper and a dotted bow and a card that read:  
  
DO NOT OPEN UPSTAIRS! Come down and see us before you do, its nothing dangerous we just really really really want to see your reaction. It took a lot of effort to get this present made and we just want to see the fruits of our labors.  
Remus, Hagrid, Mad-Eyes and many others  
  
"Odd." Thought Harry. When he picked up the box it was heavy and he trudged downstairs with it.  
  
The Weasleys (including Bill and Charlie), Remus, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Mad- Eye, Tonks and a host of people Harry didn't recognize sat in the parlor and when he walked in Remus immediately stood, "Good morning Harry! Happy Christmas!"  
  
A round of "Good morning" and "Happy Christmas" came from various people and Harry looked at them a little bewildered but answered, "Err, morning everyone. Happy Christmas."  
  
"I suppose your wondering about your wondering about your gift...and all these people." Remus began and his face was excited, more so then Harry had ever seen it, "Well, we are all part of your present Harry. There are more people that couldn't come but they send their warmest regards."  
  
Harry nodded trying to continue Lupin to continue but his face turned misty, almost like a father looking on proudly at his son's moment of crowning glory. At this point Tonks came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, he slipped one around her waist. The two had an elementary romance forming but it was obvious to a lot of people that all signs pointed to a fruitful relationship in their future.  
  
"Wotcher, Harry!" Tonks said brightly, her hair was acid green and in two long braided pigtails that she could've tucked into her belt, she wore a vibrant red Christmas sweater with little Santa's helper elf shoes, "Aren't you going to open it?"  
  
Everyone was staring expectantly at the package, he realized, and Harry tore at the paper and ribbon but not too roughly, he was afraid to break whatever was inside. When he opened the box he lifted out a bowl that resembled Dumbledore's Pensieve with the same sort of silvery threads swimming around inside but it was inscribed with Snitches and had Harry's name etched very nicely in the side. It mentioned his mum and dad and had other colorful scenes on it. One was a house that he felt like he knew from somewhere, and then there were the words "Brave at Heart, Sharp of Mind and Fleet of Foot" in a banner.  
  
Tonks and Remus took a seat together and Dumbledore stood and his eyes twinkled merrily at Harry as he said, "This is your own Pensieve, Harry, inscribed with everything from your family motto to your family's names. It is filled with every single memory of your parents, of Lily and James, as far back as any of use can remember going straight up until the last time any of us saw them. This is a way, Harry, for you to have back your parents in as much a way as we are capable of giving you."  
  
Harry just stared at the bowl in awe of it, "Who thought of this?"  
  
Remus spoke again in a raspy whisper, "Actually Sirius inspired it, he had been mentioning the time that you had seen Professor Snape's memory of your folks and he thought that it would be beyond brilliant for you to see more. When you mentioned in a letter that you missed them and wished you could know them better... I thought of this. Hagrid helped me, Mad-Eye and Dumbledore as well, to track down every single person we could think of who were in school at the same time as Lily and James even if they only had a year overlapping and we sent out a relative army of owls, begging them for their memories."  
  
Tonks' eyes were bright with pride and excitement, "What do you think, Harry?"  
  
As Harry looked down at the basin a tear fell from his eyes, which looked just like his mother's, into the silvery memories that contained his mother and father.  
  
A/N- for my purposes I am going to say it NOW NOT LATER that it says in the books both that Sirius did and did not have a trial. For my story's purpose I am giving him a trial but a very bias one as it was often in those times. What does every one think? Yes or no? Yay or nay? 


End file.
